


Friends

by up_brendons_ass



Category: Panic! at the Disco
Genre: Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Consensual Sex, Domestic Violence, Drug Abuse, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:42:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23324167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/up_brendons_ass/pseuds/up_brendons_ass
Summary: Charlotte "Charlie" Murphy has lived in the same sorry old town her entire life, stuck with all the people in it. Her rich parents just make life worse; her mother an alcoholic and her father cheating with tons of other young women in town. Even her brother disappoints her by always smoking weed. Charlie feels she's the only one in her family with ambition, and her mother simply doesn't understand and believes she's troubled and needs guidance--a better influence than her friend Rachel.When Brendon, a sweet boy with glasses and a shy smile moves into town and is Charlie's age, her mother jumps at the opportunity to see if getting Charlie to spend time with him will help her. Charlie, who looks for every way to defy her mother that she can, tries to keep Brendon out of her emotions and thoughts, but can't help herself when she finds herself spending more time with him than she ever intended to. Things get a little out of hand when Charlie opens up a little too much and realizes just how alike yet so different her and Brendon are--and just how badly she's been needing someone like him in her life for so many years.
Relationships: Brendon Urie/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

I'll never forget the night where I realized just how fucked up my family is. 

For the longest time, I was always way too young and naive to understand what my family was truly like. I went through my life wondering why my mother woke up irritable and needing coffee so many times in the morning, my father wasn't home all the time, or why my brother would come home with red eyes, acting funny and then just shut himself in his room all the time. It all made sense to me one night in ninth grade when my friend Rachel came over to spend the night with me. This of course, was before my mother learned just what Rachel was into and stopped letting her come to spend the night. 

"Look what I brought," she whispered as she reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of vodka, after I'd locked the door to my room. 

"Rachel!" My mouth fell open. "That's horrible! Is that alcohol?!"

"Shh!" she shushed me and smiled big at me as she screwed the lid off. "We won't get in trouble. We always hear about the upperclassmen getting in trouble for it at parties and stuff, but this is our own party and the cops aren't coming to bust us!" 

"But Rachel, it's really bad for you," I said. "Plus, what if my parents catch us? And--"

"Charlie." Rachel stopped me. "Your parents aren't even here. And drinking one time isn't going to kill us unless we drink this entire thing, which we aren't going to be stupid enough to do." 

"I don't think it's a good idea," I said. 

"Oh come on, Charlie," she said. "We won't get hammered. Don't you want to know what it's like to get a little tipsy though?"

Not really. "Yeah," I sighed. 

"Here," she took a swig, cringing at the taste and handed it to me. "Oh god, that's disgusting."

I stared at the bottle for a second, then brought it to my lips, taking a little sip. I almost spit it back out, it was so awful. 

"How can my mom drink this shit all the time?" I said, handing it back to her, not wanting any more. 

"Your mom drinks a lot?" she said, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I don't know why," I said. "She does it a few times a week, and then she just gets tired and doesn't want to help me with my homework or anything, she just tells me to go ask my teachers for help instead and then goes to bed."

"And you said your dad is never home?" Rachel said. 

"Yeah," I said. "I asked him and he said he has a lot of weird surgery calls that require him to leave in the evening during our family time a lot."

"Charlie, don't you get it?" Rachel looked at me, putting the bottle of vodka down. "Your mom is drinking for a certain reason."

"Because she never gets to spend time with my dad?" I guessed.

"Well yeah," Rachel rolled her eyes. "Because your dad is clearly cheating on your mom. It's around the same time, right?" I nodded. "It's pretty clear that he's leaving to go spend time with some other woman, not for some emergency surgery or whatever." 

"Oh my god," I said, suddenly realizing the truth. "How did I not see that before?" 

"And didn't you say your brother always comes home stoned? He probably knows and doesn't want to deal with it either," Rachel said. She took another swig of vodka and handed it to me, and I reluctantly took another gulp. 

"Stoned? I just said he comes home with red eyes and he acts kinda funny," I said. 

"He comes home stoned," Rachel said. "I know plenty of stoners and Jason is definitely one of them." 

"My family is fucked," I said, sitting back and realizing it for the first time. 

After that night, I never touched alcohol again. I was too afraid of ending up like my mother and that was the last thing I wanted. 

The following year, Rachel got us invited to some party shortly after I'd gotten my driver's license and begged me to go with her. I gave in, telling my mother that I was just going to Rachel's house. The party got busted by the cops less than 10 minutes after we'd left, which scared the shit out of me. 

My mother eventually found out that we'd been sneaking to parties and that was where the "trouble child" bullshit started. She grounded me, not only for 2 weeks from lying and going behind her back but also from Rachel completely. She banned me from ever hanging out with her again. 

Of course that didn't stop me. Rachel was my only friend so of course I still sneaked her over through my window to hang out in my room, and my mother never heard us because their room was on the other side of the house anyways. My brother was always in his room, smoking weed of course. No one else seemed to want to be my friend. I was pretty popular at school, thanks to Rachel. She would talk me up to everyone and whenever we'd walk into a party, they'd cheer for us, glad that we'd made it. It was always a grand entrance with Rachel and I, even though most of the time it was literally just us walking through the front door. 

I guess you could say that I had it pretty good at school. Everyone liked me. I got along with everyone perfectly fine, my teachers trusted me and I got good grades. The problem was that beyond Rachel, it was all empty friendships. Rachel's other friends always just complimented my hair or my outfits. I knew that outside of high school, I didn't mean anything and no one would hardly remember my name. "Charlie Murphy? Oh yeah, I remember the name. I talked to her once or twice I think."

That's exactly what I was afraid of. I wanted to make some sort of change in the world, but I couldn't do that from where I was in high school. It would never matter in the long run anyways. 

I guess that's why I spent most of high school unhappy. There was one person I was waiting to meet that would change my entire world.


	2. have some composure. where is your posture?

I blew a bubble of my chewing gum, my mother turning and glaring at me from where she was sitting next to me, daring me to pop it and make people stare. I pulled it back inside of my mouth, closing my lips around it to mute the noise and she exhaled annoyingly.

"I told you to spit that out before we came in here," she whispered.

"Sorry mother." I whispered back, someone turning around from a few rows in front of us and glancing at us for a second before turning back around to listen to the sermon our pastor was preaching.

"Stop that," she gently swatted my hands that were folding the corners of the pages of my bible, and I sighed quietly. "Sit up straighter, Charlotte. And cross your legs."

"Why do you even have that if you never read it?" I rolled my eyes at my brother Jason, who was always asking to start something.

"Stop it," my mother whispered. "You're going to cause a scene."

"At least I read my bible," Jason mumbled. Liar, all you do is hotbox your car with your other stoner friends.

"Enough," my father whispered. I stared straight ahead, although I could see from the corner of my eye that he was looking over at some other married woman that he'd been sleeping with and my mother was pretending not to notice. This was a typical Sunday in the life of the Murphy family.

The Murphys, we're the most popular and rich family in town. My mother runs her own entrepreneurship and my father is a cardio surgeon. Needless to say, they have a lot of money. Don't be fooled, we aren't that perfect family that everyone seems to think we are.

I sat through the remainder of the sermon, only halfway listening to what our pastor was telling us and zoning out for the other half of it. They finally sang through one more song and then everyone dispersed into fellowship.

I followed my mother aimlessly as she approached the pastor, saying something about someone she was wanting me to meet.

"I think he'd be a good influence on her," she mumbled to the pastor, thinking I wouldn't hear but I clearly could hear every word just fine. My mother thinks I'm a troubled child.

"Well Charlotte, this is Brendon," Phil, our pastor said and a boy approximately my age with dark hair and black framed glasses smiled at me and waved.

"Nice to meet you," I held my hand out for him to shake. He was so cute but I knew my mother was looking for me to think that, and then she'd win. He shook my hand and my mother was already deep into conversation with Phil so I was forced to talk to Brendon.

"So, where are you from?" I asked.

"We used to live in LA," he said. "My parents didn't like the busy streets and the traffic and the overwhelming feeling of insecurity and getting lost in such a big city though, so we moved here to Colorado Springs because they wanted a change of scenery."

"That's definitely something you'll get here," I practically scoffed. Brendon seemed nice but his family already sounded just like mine.

"Well, that should be a good thing for them then," he smiled. This boy already seems too pure, of course my mother thinks he would be a good influence on me.

"Well I'd love to stay and chat but I have homework I haven't finished that I need to go work on, so I'll see you around." I waved goodbye to Brendon, who said goodbye to me as well and waved, and I had to drag my mother away from Phil so we could leave and I could go finish my homework.

I sat in the backseat with Jason, who I knew was planning on going home and lighting up a joint like he always does. My mother and father talked quietly in the front seat as I stared out the window.

"Charlotte, Jason." My brother and I perked our heads up to my mother from the front seat.

"The Urie family is coming over tonight for dinner," she said. "They just moved here from LA. Charlotte, you already met their oldest son."

"Great," I mumbled. It's not that I didn't want to get to know Brendon better, it's that I didn't want my mother to win and think that I was going to listen to her telling me that I needed better friends that would influence me to make better decisions. I was perfectly fine.

"Charlotte." I cringed once again at her use of my full name.

"Okay, sorry mother." I sighed as we pulled into the driveway of our home and she sighed as well.

"Kids, please be on your best behavior tonight," my father said.

I got out of the car and headed into my room, finishing my homework and spending the majority of the afternoon doing that and reading, avoiding my family as much as possible. I only emerged from my bedroom when I heard the doorbell ring and my mother yell at me from the kitchen to come out and "say hello to our guests."

Brendon's parents were nice. They were just like mine, proper and rich and probably weren't as perfect and well put together as mine seemed. They did seem happy together though, and Brendon smiled at them a lot.

"We brought Brendon because we knew he'd behave himself. We left the boys at home," his mother explained as we sat around the table, Brendon and Jason on either side of me.

I ate my roast beef slowly while I zoned out during the conversation taking place at the table, only catching bits and pieces of it. I heard that Brendon was a junior, like me, and was going to the same school as me and of course my mother was delighted to hear that. She hated Rachel, who was my closest friend and apparently a bad influence on me.

When dinner was finished, my parents and Brendon's parents sat at the table getting ready to play cards and offered for me to join them but I refused and went outside into the backyard instead.

I sat on the bench under our cherry tree and watched the sun beginning to set. I noticed another human figure outside and recognized that it was just Brendon, who came and sat next to me on the bench.

"Hey Charlotte," he said, smiling at me.

"Oh god, please don't," I rolled my eyes. "Call me Charlie. I hate Charlotte."

"Well okay," he laughed. "Hey Charlie. You seemed quiet during dinner."

"I hate socializing," I shrugged. "I'm more of a one-on-one kind of person."

"Makes sense," he said. "I'm kind of the same way."

I nodded. "Your parents seem nice."

"Yeah, they're alright." He fidgeted with his hands in his lap.

"Are you happy about the big move?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, I liked LA but I didn't have many friends, so it wasn't heartbreaking to leave it all behind."

"When you leave for college, no one remembers you anyways," I said. An uncomfortable silence took over.

"That was supposed to make you feel better. I'm terrible at comforting people," I laughed a little. 

"It's okay," he chuckled too. "I never liked high school anyways."

"I don't either," I rolled my eyes. "I could rant for hours about how fucked up high school is."

"Oh," Brendon appeared taken back by my use of language.

"Sorry," I tried not to laugh. "My mother expects so much from me. If my language offends you I'll filter myself around you."

"No it's okay," he shook his head. "I'm just not used to hearing words like that used so casually."

"Well you'll hear it a lot from me."

"It's okay. I think it's kind of funny."

"Then be prepared to laugh a lot in the future," I warned.

He smiled and opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by his mother's voice at the door.

"Brendon? We're heading home now, you have school tomorrow morning and you need to get a decent amount of sleep."

"Well I'll see you tomorrow sometime then?" He said, standing up. I stood with him, planning to go inside and sleep as well.

"Probably," I smiled. "I'll see you around."

He waved goodbye as he walked inside with his mother. I lingered outside a little longer to avoid awkward goodbyes before I went inside and got ready for bed.

As I climbed under my covers, I thought about the fact that I knew my mother wanted me to be friends with Brendon because she wanted me to stop being so "troubled" but he actually seemed kind of cool and I wanted to get to know him.

I drifted off to sleep wondering what the future would hold for me with that shy boy.

-


	3. i wanna live a life from a new perspective

"Good morning, Charlotte," my mother handed me a plate of eggs and jelly on toast as I sat at the table, stirring honey into my tea.

"Good morning, mother," I yawned, eating my breakfast somewhat quickly so I could just get out of the house and get to school so I could just get it done and over with already.

"Since Brendon is new to the school and doesn't know exactly where it is, I told Mrs. Urie that you could give him a ride to school today," she said. "So you'll need to pick him up on your way to school."

"Great," I rolled my eyes, acting annoyed but was actually looking a little forward to the extra few minutes with him. He seemed nice and thoughtful, and like he was able to actually have an intelligent conversation, which is something I really needed.

"Charlotte," she said, her tone stern. "Brendon is a sweet boy and you could use an actual friend."

"I have plenty of friends," I lied.

"He could use someone to talk to and hang out on the first day too," she said. "I'm sure he would have no trouble finding someone to hang out with all day otherwise, but you should be the nice one here considering he is now one of our neighbors."

"Alright, alright," I sighed, not wanting my mother to continue her meaningless rant. I drank the rest of my tea and brought my dishes to the sink.

When I pulled up outside of Brendon's house, I honked the horn once to get his attention. Less than a minute later, he came and sat in the front seat next to me.

"Hey Charlie," he smiled, using his index finger to push his glasses up his nose.

"Hey," I smiled back at him, trying not to be as crabby as I felt.

"Thanks so much for the ride," he said. "I really hate riding the bus to school."

"It's no problem, I hated the bus too," I said. "The second I turned 16, I got my license and I never went back to my school bus days after that."

"Lucky you," he said. "I took driver's ed late, so I can't get my license for another couple months. By the way, do you go to the youth group on Wednesday nights usually?"

"Not usually," I said. "I don't really have the energy to go out during the week. But if you wanted to go, I'd go with you this week."

"I was wondering," he said. "That's okay, I didn't really want to go either and I told my mom I'd go if you were going so I'd at least know someone there. I'll just tell her you don't have time to go during the week or something."

I already had a feeling that Brendon and I were going to get along just fine.

When we got to the school, I showed him to the office and he walked in and got his schedule.

"Charlie, you can show him around right?" our principal asked me.

"Of course," I nodded. "Can I see your schedule?"

Brendon handed the paper to me, and I glanced over all his classes and where they were located on campus. "Nice, we have history and health together. First and last period together."

I showed Brendon to our first period class first, then to every other classroom on he had. Luckily our school wasn't very big so I had faith that he wouldn't get lost too many times on his first day. 

He sat with me at lunch, since Rachel wasn't there for whatever reason. He told me about some of the things he'd seen back in LA, and how out of place his parents always said they felt because it's so liberal there and his parents are very conservative.

"Between you and I, I just consider myself to be much more liberal of a person," he said, still rambling. "So I mean, LA wasn't my favorite spot in the entire world but I didn't feel out of place. A lot of my friends were really liberal, too. A lot of them were music kids, and let me tell you, music kids can be a little wild."

Brendon was so different from everyone else I would hang out with. He was so smart, and even when he was rambling it seemed like everything he said was well thought and put together. It was refreshing to have a conversation with someone that wasn't my mother on my case about something or Rachel talking endlessly about boys or parties.

"Would you consider yourself more conservative or liberal?" Brendon asked me.

"Definitely liberal," I said. "My parents are pretty neutral. They don't really talk much about politics or their personal beliefs, so I pretty much learned everything I know through what I was taught in school. And most of that I thought was BS because it's mostly from a conservative standpoint. So your parents probably love it here."

"Yeah, they really like it so far," he laughed. His smile was so nice. "They really like your parents and they thought you and Jason were very 'calm and well behaved.' They just never get a break from my younger brothers."

He seemed very sheltered, which didn't surprise me considering his parents were apparently extremely conservative. They probably believed that exposing him to what happens in the real world would for some reason make him want to be a part of that. I never understood that logic, but something told me Brendon had never even seen weed, never drank a sip of alcohol and was most definitely extremely virgin.

I knew Rachel would get a kick out of showing him some of what happens in the "real world." As I listened to him talk at lunch, I silently formulated a plan in my brain on how I was going to make this work. It would be much easier if Rachel was there with us, but at the same time I was glad she wasn't because I was actually really enjoying the conversation I was having with him.

Brendon's speech finally came to an end when the bell rang to signal lunch was over. I thanked him for sitting with me, to which he replied he was really glad that I'd invited him to sit with me because he was afraid that otherwise he'd be eating lunch by himself. We parted ways and went to our next classes, in which I continued thinking out the plan I had for Brendon.


	4. swear to shake it up if you swear to listen

Brendon asked if I wanted to hang out with him Wednesday night and get food or something instead of going to the youth group because his mother insisted he go anyways. I felt bad for him and I actually did want to hang out with him more, so I told him I'd pick him up in time to leave for "youth group" and get him back home around the time it would usually end.

We decided on a little cafe located downtown that had lots of baked goods that I went to regularly when I wanted out of the house to study. I ordered a muffin for both of us, assuring Brendon that they have some of the best muffins I've ever eaten there, and tea for myself and cider for Brendon.

"Thank you so much for rescuing me from that," Brendon said. "It's not that I don't enjoy going to church, it's just that I don't like going into social situations that I know no one in and know they're all going to ignore me and talk to their friends instead."

"I sympathize completely," I said. "My mother stopped making me go when she realized I have a car and can drive myself places and I decided not to go anymore. Besides, that youth pastor will talk for hours if no one stops him."

"Oh boy," Brendon said, laughing a little. "Glad I dodged that one."

"I will gladly help you out of situations you don't want to be in whenever you want," I said, meaning it. I'd been put into a lot of situations I didn't like and I wished I had someone who would help me out of them when I wasn't comfortable with it.

"I have a feeling we're going to be great friends, Charlie."

-

Brendon and I talked for a couple hours about important and meaningless things, and it made me appreciate his existence even more than I did before. It was so out of the ordinary for me to be going to a cafe with a nerdy boy on a Wednesday night to eat muffins and talk about climate change, but I was certainly enjoying it.

"Hey, Brendon," I said as I dropped him off at his house and he unbuckled his seatbelt. "Do you want to come over on Friday? We can hang out and eat some pizza, maybe play some card games or something?"

"Yeah, sure," he smiled. "I'd love that."

"Great," I said. "I'll pick you up."

"Thanks, Charlie. I'll see you tomorrow."

I went home, and no one appeared to be around. I figured my parents were in bed, and Jason in his room or with his friends smoking. I took a shower, drying my hair and wrapping myself in warm blankets to nest myself into my bed before scrolling through social media for a good 20 minutes or so. I plugged my phone in and shut off my lamp, going to sleep for the night.

-

At school the following day, I informed Rachel of my plan for Brendon and she of course was in on it.

"Charlie, you're a genius!" she laughed. "And so evil! The poor kid has no idea what's even coming!"

"Well when you put it that way," I said, not smiling anymore. "I don't want him to get too fucked up, Rachel. Just introduce him to what's out in the real world. I told you he's probably never even been interested in what happens at high school parties."

"Well, whatever," she said. "It's going to be fun and I bet he'll enjoy it. What time are you going to be home?"

"I plan on picking him up around 6, so meet me in my room at like 6:15," I said.

"Okay," she smiled. "I'll be there, don't worry."

Of course, my mother was beyond delighted that I was befriending Brendon as well.

"That's wonderful, Charlotte!" she smiled at me at dinner when I told her Brendon was going to come over and have pizza and play card games with me. "He really is such a sweet boy."

It's not that he wasn't as great as everyone made him out to be, he really was. And it's not like I thought Rachel was going to go over the top with our plan. I was just concerned about how Brendon would react to it. He told me himself that he considered himself pretty liberal, so I took that as a green light that he wouldn't freak out too much.

*Thanks for you help today in health Charlie. Can't wait to pig out on pizza tomorrow :)*

Brendon texted me right as I was settling into bed. I laughed a little to myself. He was certainly going to be pigging out quite a bit on that pizza.


	5. its nine in the afternoon, your eyes are the size of the moon

Brendon asked if I wanted to hang out with him Wednesday night and get food or something instead of going to the youth group because his mother insisted he go anyways. I felt bad for him and I actually did want to hang out with him more, so I told him I'd pick him up in time to leave for "youth group" and get him back home around the time it would usually end.

We decided on a little cafe located downtown that had lots of baked goods that I went to regularly when I wanted out of the house to study. I ordered a muffin for both of us, assuring Brendon that they have some of the best muffins I've ever eaten there, and tea for myself and cider for Brendon.

"Thank you so much for rescuing me from that," Brendon said. "It's not that I don't enjoy going to church, it's just that I don't like going into social situations that I know no one in and know they're all going to ignore me and talk to their friends instead."

"I sympathize completely," I said. "My mother stopped making me go when she realized I have a car and can drive myself places and I decided not to go anymore. Besides, that youth pastor will talk for hours if no one stops him."

"Oh boy," Brendon said, laughing a little. "Glad I dodged that one."

"I will gladly help you out of situations you don't want to be in whenever you want," I said, meaning it. I'd been put into a lot of situations I didn't like and I wished I had someone who would help me out of them when I wasn't comfortable with it.

"I have a feeling we're going to be great friends, Charlie."

-

Brendon and I talked for a couple hours about important and meaningless things, and it made me appreciate his existence even more than I did before. It was so out of the ordinary for me to be going to a cafe with a nerdy boy on a Wednesday night to eat muffins and talk about climate change, but I was certainly enjoying it.

"Hey, Brendon," I said as I dropped him off at his house and he unbuckled his seatbelt. "Do you want to come over on Friday? We can hang out and eat some pizza, maybe play some card games or something?"

"Yeah, sure," he smiled. "I'd love that."

"Great," I said. "I'll pick you up."

"Thanks, Charlie. I'll see you tomorrow."

I went home, and no one appeared to be around. I figured my parents were in bed, and Jason in his room or with his friends smoking. I took a shower, drying my hair and wrapping myself in warm blankets to nest myself into my bed before scrolling through social media for a good 20 minutes or so. I plugged my phone in and shut off my lamp, going to sleep for the night.

-

At school the following day, I informed Rachel of my plan for Brendon and she of course was in on it.

"Charlie, you're a genius!" she laughed. "And so evil! The poor kid has no idea what's even coming!"

"Well when you put it that way," I said, not smiling anymore. "I don't want him to get too fucked up, Rachel. Just introduce him to what's out in the real world. I told you he's probably never even been interested in what happens at high school parties."

"Well, whatever," she said. "It's going to be fun and I bet he'll enjoy it. What time are you going to be home?"

"I plan on picking him up around 6, so meet me in my room at like 6:15," I said.

"Okay," she smiled. "I'll be there, don't worry."

Of course, my mother was beyond delighted that I was befriending Brendon as well.

"That's wonderful, Charlotte!" she smiled at me at dinner when I told her Brendon was going to come over and have pizza and play card games with me. "He really is such a sweet boy."

It's not that he wasn't as great as everyone made him out to be, he really was. And it's not like I thought Rachel was going to go over the top with our plan. I was just concerned about how Brendon would react to it. He told me himself that he considered himself pretty liberal, so I took that as a green light that he wouldn't freak out too much.

*Thanks for you help today in health Charlie. Can't wait to pig out on pizza tomorrow :)*

Brendon texted me right as I was settling into bed. I laughed a little to myself. He was certainly going to be pigging out quite a bit on that pizza.


	6. losing the feeling of feeling unique

Waking up in the morning was weird.

"Charlie!" Brendon hissed, and I was shaken awake. I looked around, seeing that I was on my floor and the events from the night before flooded my brain. Brendon was still in his clothes from yesterday, and looked very frantic.

"Charlie! I need to get home! It's like 8!" He said, standing up and running his hands through his messy bed head.

"Brendon, calm down, please," I sighed, laying back down against my pillow. "I'll take you home in a couple minutes."

"What even happened last night?" he asked, sitting on my bed. I looked over at him.

"You really don't remember?" I asked.

"I remember eating a lot of pizza and petting Muffin," he said.

"That's pretty much all you did," I said. "You got really stoned and started freaking out about your mom finding out, so I called her and told her you had a stomachache and fell asleep here and that I'd take you home in the morning."

"And she was fine with that?!" Brendon looked appalled.

"I'm a very convincing person," I shrugged.

"I can't believe you let that happen!" Brendon said. "I thought you didn't like that sort of thing, Charlie!"

I sighed, knowing he was right. I didn't want to admit to it though. "You had the option to say no, Brendon. You stepped forward and took the hit. No one was forcing you to. And it's not like your mom is ever going to find out unless you tell her. Please don't tell her."

He crossed his arms and sat on my bed. He had every right to be angry and pout.

"Do you want me to make you breakfast?" I offered.

"I want you to drive me home," he snapped.

"Okay," I sighed one more time and stood, pulling my hair into a ponytail and grabbing my keys. I didn't bother getting dressed yet; I clearly had no one to impress.

I dropped Brendon off at his house, pulling into the driveway and parking my car. He seemed less angry than before, and he even said, "I'll see you at church," before he got out and went inside.

When I got back home, I decided to go back to bed for about another hour or so, and woke up 30 minutes after I laid back down. I got up and got dressed instead, cringing at how much my neck hurt from sleeping on the floor.

My mother was still passed out on the couch when I went into the kitchen to eat something for breakfast, my father didn't appear to be home (what a surprise) and I figured Jason had spent the night at a friend's house. I didn't really want to deal with my mother and her crabby attitude she was bound to have when she were to wake and I really wasn't in the mood to hang out with Rachel. Honestly, I just wanted to hang out with Brendon.

I decided to go against my subconscious telling me I was a scumbag for what I did to Brendon and called him anyways.

"Hi Charlie," he answered, less chirpy than normal.

"Hey Brendon, do you want to go hang out and do something?" I asked, hoping he wasn't holding any hard feelings about the night before.

"I don't know..." He sighed.

"We won't do anything dangerous or illegal, I promise," I said. "We can go walk through a park. I know a few trails we can go to."

"Okay," he said. "Can you pick me up? My dad has the car."

"Yeah, I'll be there in like 20 minutes."

I noticed how nice he smelled when he sat in my car after I picked him up, having showered since he'd been home from my house.

"My mom was a little hesitant about letting me out since she was convinced that I had a bad stomachache," he said.

"Okay Brendon, listen," I said. "I'm really sorry about that. It was so wrong of me to not tell you that Rachel was going to be there and that she was going to have weed and it was very wrong of me to encourage you to smoke some of it knowing that you aren't about that life and--"

"Charlie, no, I'm sorry," he said. "You were right; I could have said no. I was the one who decided to do it anyways and I should be thanking you for bailing me out last night so my mom wouldn't find out."

"I promise, I won't ever do that to you again," I said. Brendon was too good for me. He was trying to take the blame for something that wasn't even entirely his fault. In fact, had it not been for me it wouldn't have even happened in the first place.

I drove us to a few trails that I knew that were a little narrow and mostly trees. I parked my car and got out with Brendon, leading the way.

Colorado Springs was elevated a lot higher than a lot of places, especially LA, so Brendon's lungs hadn't quite completely adjusted to the altitude and dry air yet. We had to stop multiple times. I wasn't the most fit person around, I would go for walks and runs through these trails a lot because I didn't want to be around my family or Rachel but I was no marathon runner.

"I swear, I'm not this out of shape," Brendon laughed, leaning over and catching his breath.

"No I get it, trust me," I laughed with him. "It takes a while to get used to."

Brendon caught his breath finally, standing back up straight and smiling at me. I kept walking with him, a little slower this time.

"So, how are you liking the new town so far?" I asked.

"It's alright," he shrugged. "Everyone seems pretty nice."

I snorted. I knew that he'd end up hating it if he had a decent bone in his body. In this town, if you weren't an alcoholic or drug addict, you were mentally unstable in some sort of way or you're cheating on your wife to try and fill an empty void in your life that you feel because you have too much money to know what to do with. Including my family.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm the only sane one in this town because everyone else is so crazy," I said. "Or maybe I'm the crazy one, who knows. But I don't think being an alcoholic or stoner makes you sane."

"Whatever it is, I'm right there with you," Brendon said. "I'll never understand the hype with high school parties and getting hammered and then having sex with someone you don't know."

"Unfortunately, it's not just high schoolers," I sighed. If Brendon knew about half the parties I'd been to, he'd certainly think less of me. I'm surprised he didn't already with the way everyone at school talks about me.

Brendon's a good person. I could feel it, the vibe he gave off, the light in his smile. He had a pure goodness in his heart unlike anyone I'd ever met before. I just hoped that this town wouldn't suck the life out of him like it did everyone else.


	7. smile even though you're sad

Hanging out with Brendon was quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do. He was funny, smart and always had something positive to say. He started sending me funny animal videos every Monday because he knew how much I hated Mondays, and we would hang out a lot after school since he lived right down the street and his mother liked my parents and I. He talked a lot about his family, that he loved passionately. He told me about how he's the only birth child his parents have, and he has 2 younger brothers that his parents adopted because they wanted more kids but couldn't have any. He opened up a little and said he felt his brothers always got more attention from his parents, but he wanted to get into a good college after he graduated so he stayed out of trouble.

I still went to parties with Rachel like I always did. Of course I was always the designated driver because I refused to drink alcohol or smoke.

Rachel loved to get wasted and then laugh at me at parties and how I'd just sit on the sides and watch everyone get shit-faced. And of course I'd always drag Rachel out of the parties and take her home before the cops showed up to keep both of us out of trouble. I'd seen so many things I didn't want to see at those parties before. I wondered if Brendon had ever even seen alcohol in his entire life.

"It's so hard to believe that you're into Arctic Monkeys," Brendon laughed at his locker, where I was standing and talking to him before school.

"What? Do you think they're too edgy for me?" I teased, laughing with him. "Too grunge?"

"They're not even grunge!" He laughed even harder. I loved his laugh, and I was glad that I heard it a lot. He seemed to find everything funny, which means that at least one person in the world will always laugh at my jokes.

"I know, they're Indie rock," I said. "The next time you're in the car with me, I'll put one of my CDs in. What's your favorite album?"

"Hmm, that's hard," he said, leaning against his locker and pushing his glasses up his nose. "I like Favorite Worst Nightmare, but Humbug was also really good."

"Come on. Suck It and See was hands down their best one," I said. "Although you're right, Favorite Worst Nightmare has 505 so I'll give you some credit there."

"Ooh, 505 is my favorite from Favorite Worst Nightmare," he smiled. "I'd probably still adore you with your hands around my neck." He winked at me as he sang and I rolled my eyes.

"You're ridiculous," I said.

"You're right," he closed his locker and turned back to me. "I ridiculously want to see that new Johnny Depp movie on Friday too. Do you want to come with me?"

"You love Johnny Depp too?!" I smacked his arm a little harder than I intended. He flinched, and rubbed his arm, and I reached out and touched it, laughing a little. "Sorry. I will definitely come with you to see it. What time is it airing?"

"I think 5 or 5:15, I'll have to double check and let you know," he said.

"Are you sure it's not at 5:05?" I asked.

"Oh shut up," he laughed, throwing his head back a little. I laughed with him, mostly at my own corny joke.

"Do you want me to come pick you up?" I asked. "It'll be fun."

"If you want to, yeah," he said. "I was going to have my mom drive me but she'd appreciate that." 

"Not a problem," I said as we walked to class. "I like driving. And hanging out with you too, I guess."

"Very funny," he said. I let him walk in front of me into the classroom first, laughing at him.

-

I picked Brendon up, and the movie was slightly disappointing to say the least. Brendon thought it was hilarious, probably because he finds everything hilarious, so I was more amused by Brendon's constant laughter than the movie itself.

"I gotta say, for Johnny Depp it was pretty lame," I said as we walked to my car after the movie.

Brendon looked appalled at me. "You can't just put "lame" and "Johnny Depp" in the same sentence, Charlie. That's a sin."

"I apologize," I said, placing my hand over my chest. "Do you want to take me to church so I can go repent?"

"Not on a Friday night," he said. "I'm having too much fun."

"Good, because I wasn't going to anyways," I smiled, climbing into the driver's seat.

As I drove Brendon home, I played my Arctic Monkeys CD, Favorite Worst Nightmare, and Brendon of course sang along to every song that played. He skipped to 505, and stared at me with a seductive look on his face and I laughed at him, swatting his arm. I wondered why I'd never been able to experience this kind of innocent fun friendship with anyone before. Rachel would think it was ridiculous if I'd go to a movie with her and sing along to our favorite bands on the way home if there wasn't at least weed involved.

As I was driving down our street, I stopped and noticed someone had put something in my driveway. Out of curiosity, I pulled over and saw that someone had spelled "Homecoming?" out in rose petals in my driveway.

"Oh no," I sighed. I got out of the car and saw a guy from school named Darren standing next to it, smiling at me and holding a box of chocolates.

"Charlie! You're home!" He smiled, glancing back at my car, which still had a very confused looking Brendon sitting in it. His smile faded slightly.

"Yeah," I smiled back, trying to stay polite. "Look, Darren, this is really sweet of you and all, and I appreciate it but I don't do dances."

"Oh." His smile fell from his face completely.

"I'm sorry," I said. "You should totally ask someone else though, I'm sure they'd love it."

"Right," he nodded. "So, Brendon, huh?"

"What?" I asked, then turned and looked at Brendon, who was now on his phone. "No no, it's not like that. We're just friends, we just went and saw the new Johnny Depp movie is all. Just hanging out. I was just driving him home, actually."

"Well, maybe if we don't go to homecoming together we could get together and do something else sometime?" he asked. "I could take you to dinner."

"Again, that's really sweet of you," I said. "But I really am not looking for a relationship right now. I'm sorry, Darren."

His shoulders slumped down, and I felt a twinge of guilt. "Right, yeah. Well, sorry about this then."

"I'm sorry, Darren." He walked away without saying another word, heading to his own car that was parked just down the street. I sighed and made my way back to my car with Brendon still in it.

"I could have walked home in that time," Brendon mumbled.

"I'm sorry," I sighed. "I didn't want to just be like, "hey, I don't do dances. Go home." and then kick him out of my driveway."

"You said no?" he asked.

"Yeah. I hardly know him first of all, and second of all, dances are so not my thing."

"Same here," he chuckled. I pulled into his driveway.

"I'll see you Sunday at church," I said as he stepped out, smiling at me.

"Absolutely."

I snuggled into my bed after I'd gotten home and showered, sending Brendon a goodnight text before I dozed off.

*Thanks again for the movie. I'm glad we're friends.*


	8. a night you'll never forget

October crept up on us before I'd even realized it. I spent a lot of time with Brendon, mostly playing video games or going for walks through trails I knew to toughen up his lungs a little bit with the high altitude. He was always a pleasure to be around, always smiling and laughing about something and always knew how to make me laugh. I was growing quite fond of the weekly animal videos on Mondays and it quickly became a part of my regular Monday routine. Brendon was slowly but surely becoming a regular part of my life whether that's what I'd originally wanted or not.

When I planned my usual homecoming night movie marathon, I thought about inviting Rachel since we hadn't been hanging out quite as much lately, but then remembered that not only would my mom not let me have her over, but she would want to bring alcohol and I didn't want to deal with that on homecoming night. So of course I invited the only person I knew wouldn't ruin that night for me.

"That sounds fun!" Brendon said. "I'll definitely come over. I was planning on staying home for homecoming too, so now I at least have some company."

My mother, of course was fine with it. I had no idea why she loved Brendon so much considering she hardly knew him, but my guess was that she was just glad that I had a friend other than Rachel to hang out with. Brendon had to do a little convincing that it would be a completely platonic thing to convince his mother but she eventually said yes, thankfully she had grown fond me and all the time I spent with Brendon at his house doing homework with him.

While everyone else was getting their hair, nails and makeup done for homecoming and putting on tight uncomfortable dresses and heels, I was sitting in my room watching Netflix with a nest for hair the entire day before I showered and went to pick Brendon up wearing a sweater and leggings. I was already thankful that I never liked dances and didn't have to worry about looking nice for anyone, not even Brendon. His hair was a little messy when I picked him up, wearing a red zip-up hoodie over a white t-shirt and jeans. His usual glasses only added to his cute casual look.

"I just took a 3 hour nap," he yawned. "So I apologize for the mess on my head. I literally just put on clothes and brushed my teeth before you came and got me."

"You don't need to worry, I looked like a troll all day before I took a shower," I said. "This is a casual thing. Everyone else is dressing up and going out to fancy restaurants for dinner. We're going to sit and watch movies while eating shit food in my basement."

"Beats a dance any day if you ask me," he smiled. I thanked Jesus for blessing me with such a wonderful friend that I could relate with so much.

"So our first stop is to Walmart so we can get that shit food to eat while watching the movies," I said. "Then we can go to my house and pick movies from Netflix."

"Sounds great."

Brendon and I ran into Walmart from the parking lot, a light drizzle coming down from the cool October air. I got inside, stopping to grab a basket as Brendon laughed, telling me to wait as he took off his glasses, squinting at them and drying the drops off of them on his shirt.

"Don't get a basket," he whispered, leaning close to me.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Get a cart instead."

"But--"

"Trust me, do it." He took the basket from my hands and set it back down, and I reached for the cart, wondering why this was necessary to him when we were only getting a few things.

We turned the corner to go towards the food, and suddenly Brendon stopped. "Get in the cart."

"What?" I asked.

"Do it," he leaned forward, grabbing me and coaxing me towards it.

I laughed as I stumbled into the basket of the cart and Brendon pushed it down the aisles, stopping by the shelves. "Popcorn?" I nodded, grabbing one and holding it in the basket with me.

"We need pizza rolls," I said.

"Then let's go get pizza rolls," he said, turning the cart around the corner, causing a slight screech and nearly knocking me over, both of us laughing.

"You're gonna get us kicked out of here!" I laughed as Brendon stopped and grabbed a box of pizza rolls and tossed it into the cart. He stood up against the cart and used his foot to propel us down the aisle, and his laughter was contagious. I grabbed onto the sleeves of his sweater as he pulled us to a stop at the end of the aisle.

"Excuse me!" An employee yelled at us from the other side of the aisle. "I need you to get out of the cart, please. Where are your parents?!"

"At home," I said.

"Get out of the cart please," she sighed. She seemed like she hated her job.

"It was fun while it lasted," Brendon whispered as I climbed out and pulled the cart towards the checkout.

"Let's get back to my house so they'll stop judging us for being young and wild," I said, grabbing the items into my arms and ditching the cart, pulling Brendon with me to put them on the conveyor belt.

When we got to my house, my mother said hello to Brendon when we walked into the kitchen.

"I'll make the pizza rolls and popcorn if you want to go downstairs and pick a movie," I said to Brendon, who nodded and disappeared down the stairs.

"Charlotte, I know I shouldn't have to say this to you, but if anything starts happening with you and Brendon down there, just remember that it says specifically in the Bible--"

"I know, mother," I sighed. "No sex. Done."

"Even smaller things that take your spiritual purity away," she said. "Even touching each other a little bit--"

"Mother, please!" I put my hands up and closed my eyes. "I'm really not digging the images you're putting in my head right now. Brendon and I aren't like that."

"I just want to make sure you stay safe in your heart," she said. "Once you give that away to someone, it's gone forever. You can't get it back."

I was thankful that the pizza rolls beeped in the microwave and I pulled them out, turning to walk back downstairs.

"Thank you for the insight, mother," I said. "I promise, Brendon and I will keep our hands to ourselves."

I walked down the stairs with the pizza rolls, and Brendon was flipping through the movies on Netflix, apparently still trying to decide on the right one he wanted to watch.

"Hey," he smiled. "I thought you were going to make popcorn too?"

"I was," I said. "My mother started talking about the dangers of us touching each other and the spiritual purity we might lose from it."

"Oh." His cheeks flushed.

"Yeah," I rolled my eyes. "So I hope you don't mind, I was trying to get away from that so I only have pizza rolls."

"That's fine, I like pizza rolls." I sat down on the couch next to Brendon, curling up with the blanket against his side. He draped his arm casually over my shoulder, and I leaned against him and enjoyed the sweet, clean scent on his clothes.

"What are you thinking about watching?" I asked.

"I don't know, I'm kinda tempted to just put something on and hope for the best."

"Do it," I said. "I don't want to spend the entire time searching for movies."

"You don't have to tell me twice," he said, selecting the next movie that popped up and setting the remote down, wiggling to get more comfortable on the couch.

The movie proved to be pretty dumb, and even Brendon agreed with that. We put another movie on and watched it, shifting positions so Brendon was leaning against me instead. The second movie was better than the first but still mediocre.

"I'm a bit tired of these movies," I said. "I have some playing cards and Monopoly and stuff."

"Have you ever played Old Maid?" he asked, sitting up straight.

"Yes!" I jumped up and went for the playing cards. "You read my mind."

Old Maid was fun until Brendon kept beating me over and over again. I'm not sure how I ended up with the Old Maid every single time, but by the 4th time, I was done with it and Brendon was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes.

"You're like an Old Maid magnet!" He laughed.

"I bet you cheated, you little scumbag," I teased. He continued laughing at me as I put the cards away.

"It's only 11," I said. "Do you want to play Monopoly?"

"We might end up playing it all night," he said.

"I'm okay with that," I shrugged.

"I am too." Brendon's smile always seemed to brighten the entire room.

Despite Brendon's winning streak with Old Maid, I was whooping his ass at Monopoly when I ended up with both Boardwalk and Park Place and quite a few other expensive properties. He ended up laying across the couch while I laid on the floor to play. We were at it for at least an hour or two, until my eyes started feeling heavy and every time I nearly beat Brendon he managed his way out of it. I didn't even realize I ended up drifting off to sleep.

I woke up shivering with the lack of a blanket on my body. In my half awake state, I turned and saw Brendon asleep on the couch, the blanket draped loosely over his body, his cheeks and lips squished ever so slightly against his hand. I smiled at him, creeping over to turn off the light so we could sleep.

I gently reached and removed his glasses for him, folding them and putting them on the table in front of the couch. He groaned softly, and I felt warm hands wrap around my waist. Brendon pulled me close to him, throwing the blanket over both of us. I sighed into his warmth, letting myself get sucked into the sleepiness that his embrace was bringing to me. I managed to fit comfortably on the couch since we were so close to each other, and I easily slipped back to sleep against the slow rise and fall of his chest breathing and heart beating against my ear.


	9. i love the things you hate about yourself

When I woke in the morning to the sunlight coming in through the small storm windows of the basement, I went to stretch and realized I was still in Brendon's embrace, who was passed out next to me. I took a second to appreciate his sleeping state before I carefully slipped out of his arms, careful not to wake him. My face flushed thinking about the fact that we I laid and slept so close with Brendon all night, gently pulling the blanket up over him again. He stirred a little in his sleep, but just ended up rolling over and sleeping more.

I crept upstairs quietly, careful not to wake him and went into the kitchen to make breakfast for us while he slept a little longer. I put some bacon in the pan to start frying first, then started mixing some pancake batter in a bowl while keeping an eye on the few pieces of bacon.

As I was taking the last few pieces of bacon off of the pan and using a few paper towels to soak up the grease, I turned my head to see Brendon walking into the kitchen, his glasses on a little crooked and his hair a mess. He smiled at me as he yawned, leaning against the counter and resting his chin in his hand.

"Good morning, sunshine," he said, his voice hoarse from sleep. "Your hair looks like a bird's nest."

"So does yours," I commented. He laughed and walked closer to me, observing the pancake I was now flipping.

"I made pancakes and bacon." I turned around to face him.

"I could smell it from the basement, that's what woke me up," he said. He reached for the plate of bacon and took a piece, eating it and nodding. "This is some pretty good bacon."

"Thanks," I said, putting the last 2 pancakes onto a plate for him and turning off the stove.

"You're wonderful," he said, taking the plate from my hand and following me to the table, where I'd already put butter and syrup for the pancakes.

"Do you want any orange juice?" I asked, getting a couple cups from the cupboard and the orange juice from the fridge. I took it to the table with me even though his mouth was full and he hadn't answered me yet.

I poured a glass for him and handed it to him. "Thanks." I poured my own and sat down, spreading butter on my pancakes before cutting them up.

"So how did that game of Monopoly actually end?" I asked. "Did I finally win?"

"No," he said. "We never finished it. I took my turn and then went to hand you the dice and you were passed out."

"Because you somehow kept finding a way to keep yourself from going bankrupt," I said. "I swear, we'd be playing that game for hours."

"I may not seem like I'm the best, but the important part is not losing, right?" he smiled, taking another bite of his bacon.

"Yeah, yeah," I rolled my eyes. "I guess since I fell asleep, I forfeit right?"

"If you insist," he shrugged. I locked eyes with him across the table, shooting my best unamused look to continue our playful banter, and Brendon burst out into giggles.

"Good morning, you two," my mother said, entering the room and walking into the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. "You're rather giggly this morning."

"It's just Brendon," I said. "He makes everyone think he sucks at Monopoly when he's actually pretty good."

"Well, just as long as you guys keep it all under control," my mother said, turning to me. "Jason and your father are still sleeping."

Wow, he's actually home?

"Don't worry," I said. "I was going to take him home soon anyways. His mother wants him home."

I took Brendon home after we finished our breakfast, thanking him for his company and him thanking me for letting him come over. I got home and changed into actual clothes, brushing out my hair and then sitting on my bed and scrolling through my social media. I practically gagged at all the corny pictures all the couples at school had posted from homecoming, and I was grateful to have spent it with Brendon instead of at that dance.

I decided that since I'd been laying around for quite a while, I needed to get out and do something. I went for a run to clear my mind and of course it drifted back to Brendon and the great night we had. Now that I was thinking about it, I was beginning to realize that Brendon was my only real friend even though we haven't known each other for very long. Already I felt more connected with Brendon--whom I had known for a little over a month--than I did with my 6 year "friendship" with Rachel. Brendon was sweet and funny and I felt like I could genuinely be myself around him. Granted, he didn't know a whole lot about me and what my home life was really like but I knew in my heart that if and when he finds out he wouldn't judge me for it.

Not to mention that Brendon didn't encourage me to go to parties and do illegal things. Brendon was into simple things that normal teenagers should be into like going to the movies and going for walks in the park and just chilling and playing video games. I never realized how much joy you could get in doing those sort of simple things with someone until I was able to.

The following week, I went back to school and it was a lot more tolerable now that the hype about homecoming was over and the cold weather quickly approaching was beginning to suck the life out of everyone again. I roamed the campus after school, avoiding going home to my family since I didn't have a whole lot for homework.

I walked past the music room, which had the door cracked open slightly. I heard piano playing and a voice singing from inside the room.

Curiously, I peeked around the corner and peered into the room. Brendon himself was sitting at the piano, facing the other way, playing and singing something I'd never heard before.

"If all our life is but a dream, fantastic posing greed then we should feed our jewelry to the sea.  
For diamonds do appear to be just like broken glass to me." 

I slowly entered the room, awestruck by how talented he was. I approached the piano slowly, behind him as I watched him continue to play.

"And then she said she can't believe genius only comes along in storms of fabled, foreign tongues.  
Tripping eyes and flooded lungs, northern downpour sends its love."

I was now only a few feet behind him, and wasn't sure if he was even aware I was in the room.

"Hey Moon, please forget to fall down. Hey Moon, don't you go do--AHH!" Brendon suddenly stopped singing and hit a few wrong notes on the piano as he jumped and noticed me for the first time. "Charlie! I didn't see you there."

I laughed at him suddenly looking extremely uncomfortable with the fact that I'd walked in on his piano playing, his face flushed completely red. "Dude, this sounds awesome!" I sat down next to him at the piano and he smiled at me.

"Oh, thanks," he chuckled nervously. "I haven't actually played this for anyone yet, since it's not finished, so I guess you're the first to hear it."

"It sounds good!" I encouraged him. "Keep going, I wanna hear more."

"Well, okay," he said, still nervous. He began playing the chords again, humming the tune of the song along with it. I watched his hands as he played, admiring how graceful he was with every key he hit with his fingers. I always found the art of playing an instrument so fascinating considering I would be awful at it myself. Brendon was so good.

"You know, you can sing," I said, wanting to hear his voice again.

"I know, I just actually haven't written the second verse yet," he said, stopping his playing again and smiling at me.

"Brendon, you have a beautiful voice," I said. "And you are so good at piano, Jesus I had no idea you were so talented."

Brendon's cheeks once again flushed pink as I complimented him. He smiled shyly at me. "Thanks, Charlie. I enjoy playing music a lot, and I like improving so I guess this means I'm at least improving enough to impress you."

"Oh, stop being so modest, Brendon." I rolled my eyes. "You're amazing. Hands down."

"Thanks," he said again. "I really need to get home though, my mom is expecting me back soon."

"Do you want a ride?" I asked. "My mother is probably going to start bitching at me over text if I don't get home soon too."

"I'd like that," he smiled, standing from the piano bench and grabbing his backpack.

I drove Brendon home, still thinking about his musical talents I was so unaware of before. I pulled into his driveway, parking my car and letting him out.

"Thanks for the ride," he smiled. "And also, thanks again about the feedback on my singing and playing. It means a lot."

"If you ever need excessive compliments on it, you know who to call," I winked, and he chuckled at me.

"I'll see you tomorrow."


End file.
